Oh Great Day of Hope - Matthew 27.50-53 (Sermon)

This indeed is a Great Day!  And though I can easily take the time of the message to lay out why I prefer Easter as the title for our Christian holiday, I want to do something that is different today. I have elected a passage that is pre-burial in part, but not really pre-burial.

Because it goes beyond what we can fathom, I suspect many gloss over these 4 verses. There is no real simple explanation, other than the most simplistic of explanations. It finds a foretelling in Ezekiel 37, how God told Ezekiel to prophesy so that the valley of bones becomes flesh, and then again so that these bodies might regain their breath. He obeyed and a valley of dry bones became an army.

Of course, this is fascinating. Though Ezekiel is in a vision, what was happening in Jerusalem that day was no vision. It was happening, and because it happened, we have a great day, and we have a great hope! Let’s look at this passage, Matthew 27.50-53. {Read Text}

Let us see the good news of the Resurrection. The first and foremost is the reason Christ came to this earth. Back in the Garden, man was created in the image of God, the Lord Almighty. He created them male and female. He said above all creation that Man and Woman were very good. They knew no sin, felt no shame. Daily they walked with God. They enjoyed fellowship with Him. But along the way, Satan came in to corrupt this fellowship. He deceived Eve and she ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Adam, not wanting to lose her, shared in her sin. In their choice, they lost the garden. God had to banish them. He would not abide in sin. They were sentenced. Justice would be coming.

Then skipping a couple of ions, we see a little old woman begging of David to bring his son back to court. She prophesied that God is not content with banishing his children, but looks for a way to restore the fellowship. Let me back up now, to the choosing of Abraham and his descendents of Isaac, his son by Sarah. (This is like a country dance, two steps forward, one step back.) God chose Abraham for the plan God had for creation. He was working on restoring the fellowship with His own creation.  But even as he was choosing Abraham, through Moses, he was teaching that the salvation wasn’t just for the line of Abraham, but for all nations. That’s why there was a court of the Gentiles.

That plan was to restore our fellowship with Him, and he would do so by coming into humanity as Jesus. Justice had to be paid, so our Father decided to take on this pain. So we would not need to know what it is to be alone, He was sin for us. Because he was sin, the veil separating us from God was ripped open. We now had the freedom to approach him on our own, without a priest, without a sacrifice for our wrongs. Isn’t that great?

It doesn’t matter what is going on in our lives. He wants us to draw near to him. He opened the door for us. His apostles quote Jesus in telling us that we can now casually call him daddy, or papa, as we would our earthly father. While we were strangers, steeped in our sin and guilt, in our shame, He died for us so we can embrace him, accept His offer.  That is what the ripped veil tells us. Come!

So that we know how much God loves us, how He longs for our fellowship, He gave us a token of what is to come. He gives us hope for more life. Mind you, when Christ died, saints from all over the world were not raised, only those in Jerusalem. And even then, not all the saints from Jerusalem were raised into life. Only some of the saints were raised. These saints had a two-fold purpose. They were first to be evidences of Christ’s command over death. In life he brought three back, even after the last one had been dead for 5 days. Why would this be different?

Ah but perhaps that is where there is differences. We do not know that they lived eternally at that point, or if, like Lazarus, they died again. We don’t even know who came back. Were these recently died or were some of these bones like Ezekiel? It is not unheard of for a cemetery to be called a valley of death. They are, after all, reminders that death comes to all. So we draw this conclusion that just as some were raised as Christ died, or maybe others were right, that they came to life when/after Christ did. What is important is that they came to life! And as we have placed our hope in Jesus, so too, will we come back to life. Unlike those from the cemetery, we will receive new bodies, free from the signs of trials we’ve faced in this life.

There is another application here. It is more personal, for us as a body, Central Christian Church of Stuttgart. We are few. Experts tell us that we are dead already. Once a church’s median age reaches 63, once a church drops to a dozen or less, there is no hope. But as you know, I am not one to rely on experts. Neither are you.

We, instead, serve a living God. You know that Jesus trusted everything to a group of 12. If we count the children, we are 12, a bit more. With that aside, let’s focus on this. Jesus conquered death. And just as in the act of Friday and Sunday, I firmly believe that He can do more than we can ask or imagine! Jesus breathed new life into bones. He can breathe new life into this congregation.

Our prayers must expect it. Father, build up your body as we strive to build your kingdom. Sure, we will take a bit more effort on each of our shoulders. Yet let us not focus on our strength to do this alone. Because Jesus is fully powerful, Paul tells us that He gives us the same power that raised Christ from the dead. It’s also why we have not only been given the strength to endure, to reach out to others, to do, to be vessels of God’s glory, but we have one another for encouragement.

This morning, we are reminded that it is a great day of hope in Christ Jesus. I want to therefore encourage you that not only will you see this day as a new day full of new opportunity, but I want you to see that this great day of hope is just the first day, as tomorrow will be another.

Let us open our eyes not to what we hear in the news and see around us, a world falling apart. Let us instead see the opportunities before us, see the fields white for the harvest.

Now we have our song of commitment, song of decision. We will sing #228, “Were You There”. We will sing verses 1, 4 and 5. Verse 5 is easy, though it’s not in the book. Were you there when he rose up from the dead. Oh sometimes it causes me to praise him. For those who are not clothed in Christ, what better day for you to make a decision for Christ? I invite you to come forward. Let us stand and sing.